Method of making articles of compressed and impregnated wood



y 1947- J. E, GURVITCH 2,423,647 METHOD OF MAKING ARTICLES OF COMPRESSED AND IMPREGNATED WOOD Filed July 14, 1943 awuc/wtm JOSEPH E. GURV/TCH ww zi Patented July 8, 1947 METHOD OF MAKING ARTICLES OF COM- PRESSED AND mrascm'rsn woon Joseph E. Gurvitch, .Hyattsville', Md., flssllnol to Engin eering and Research Corporation, Riverdale, Md., a corporation of Maryland Application July 14, 1943, Serial No. 494,747 2 Claims. (Cl. 144-309) This invention relates to the manufacture of articles formed of compressedwood which has been impregnated with a material which hardens and becomes substantially insoluble and infusible when subjected to heat.

In theart of making articles of impregnated and compressed material (hereinafter called compreg") two useful methods are now known and practiced, which may be referred to as the cutting method and the molding method. In the former, wood veneers are impregnated, piled, and compressed and bonded together to form panels or slabs of fcompreg." These slabs are then bonded together into blocks, and the blocks are carved, as by machining, to the size and shape of the article which is to be produced. There are many disadvantages inherent in this method of manufacture, although experience has shown that, to date, it produces the best results. One of the disadvantages is the obvious one of the waste of materialinvolved in carving a block of compreg" to the desired shape. A second disadvantage is that the strength in shear of articles produced by this method is not uniform throughout the article or in all directions therein. This results from the fact that in this method of manufacture pressure is exerted only in a direction at right angles to the faces of the superposed veneers, whereby maximum strength in shear parallel to the grain of the slabs is in a direction parallel to the direction of compression and the minimum strength in shear is at right angles to this direction. A third disadvantage is that the method involves three distinct operations, namely, the formation of the compreg slabs, the bonding of the slabs into a block, and the carving of the block. In the second, or molding, method the impregnated veneers are partially bonded together without compression, then carved, as by machining, into an article having the general shape of the finished article but being approximately twice the size thereof, and finally placed in a steel mold and subjected to heat and pressure in order to form an article of the desired size and shape and set the impregnating binder. The disadvantages of such a process include all of those mentioned hereinbefore and, in addition, expensive equipment is required in carrying out the process, which equipment must be changed whenever a new type or size of article is to be manufactured.

The present invention is -a new method of making compreg" articles which is not subject to the various disadvantages of known methods, including those set forth hereinbefore. Accord- 2 ingly, one of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a method of making compreg" articles in which only the exact amount of material required to make the finished article will be used, whereby the waste inherent in known methods will be obviated. Another object is the provision of a method of making compreg articles having uniform strength throughout and in all directions. A further object of the invention is to provide a method of making compreg" articles in which the formation of the "compreg material and the shaping thereof to the final, desired form are accomplished in a single operation. A still further object is to provide a method of making compreg" articles which may be more cheaply and easily practiced than those now known, whereby increased and cheaper pro.. duction is accomplished.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be made apparent from the following description and the annexed drawings which, it will be understood, are only illustrative of the invention and impose no limitation thereon not imposed by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference characters refer to like parts,

Fig. 1 illustrates the known way of making a propeller blade from compreg";

Figs. 2 and 3 are a plan view and an end view, respectively. of veneers arranged in accordance with a preliminary step of the invention to form a propeller blade;

Fig. 4 is a vertical, longitudinal, partly sectional view of apparatus used in carrying out part of the method of the invention, and showin the application of fluid pressure to a propeller blade in all directions, and

Fig. 5 is a view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

The invention will be described as applied to the manufacture of a propeller blade, although its applicability to the manufacture of other de vices will be apparent. In known useful methods of making compreg" propeller blades, the "compreg" itself is first formed. This is done by impregnating wood veneers with a material (hereinafter called the binder"), such as phenolformaldehyde, which hardens and becomes substantially insoluble and infusible upon the application of heat. These impregnated veneers are then piled in superposed relation and compressed by squeezing the pile between the heads of ,a straight-line high pressure press, the force of which is applied at right angles to the faces of the veneers. Heat is applied simultaneously with the pressure in order to set the binder.

There is thus formed a slab of "compreg which may be united with others, as by gluing or otherwise, to form a block of material of the formillustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, in which the various slabs are indicated at A. This block is then cut, as by machining, to the form of a propellergblad ""asl i dica'ted byi therbrokeri of 1; '3 :1" r" o' i I; In the practice of the method according to this invention I first cut wood veneers to such size? and shape that when combineqto forrr preliminary article, by being superp os face relation, and compressed in all directions pressure applied over the entire egterior surface of the preliminary article, the prelim-iii icle will be reduced to the predetermined size and shape of the finished article. Thus ,-;;thfe;or;iglnal total thickness of the veneers willbe greater at all points than the thickness of the 'fi'riished l0 While I have described one series of steps acarticle at the corresponding point, because of the 2 facejtoeface gcornpressiom; .thereof,:.- .while- ,fihBl-I original width; and length a of eachlveneera: when,- iii ever measured,- lwill hes greater than. thejwidth any-1;; length of theifinished article. atsithea-correspondingm:

pression .;-in the esubsequentzl stepsbf. the method. After cutting cto the desired:'size and a shape, the r woodweneers are: separately i-mpregnateds'with aw;

binder,v although .IilSLWlll". be; .apparentaathat, .Eif dc-:15.

sired, the: impregnation may be effected: prior zto ao.

shaping: .iThershaped and 1 "impregnated,rveneers are then, lpiled in superposed; facePto-facer relaer tionrasgillustrated in Figs; 2 and1r3, to, form Taibody This oversize blade-illustratedzinFigsl placed in a flexible bags?!llfr havingsepiping Lilli through whichgthe, abag 'maylbei evacuated and the bag,11wi th1the, oversize, lbladeltherein, iis placed in i a chamber lids-which m'aylbe; sealedkandi which: maygbesupiclied, through-,epipe rl 6,: with'2a iquid" under .very mhigh, a-pressurae forxexample 'Df 2th order of 3000.;poun'dstper,square i-n"ch,rra'lilas illus-f through pipe 1 12,;,causing-xthe-same toacollapsevonw is increasedur :The fiuidcompletelyzsurroun'ds"the l v and. exerts inwardrpressure thereon? ataever r point, of, the35-exteriorijgs'urfacez thereofi thereb pressing the veneers in all directions'k'ilThe impregnated.;-v it Thisrmay :be done 'in: ny: desired mannerlras by plea-heating: theapressure fiuid be-u fore introducing: itinto;theiautoclave or-:.by 'ineans"= of heating; ;coils 2,01, which 'inyEigs; 4 and "5 :are shown;- positioned ,wit'hintthev autoclavei The j'ap plication of heat*and'pressurewivill notvorrlycorn m] D S thelarticlewandiset the bindersbutn will also bond.;-;th lveneers; tthereby producing 2 between,v abjutting; Lfaces ofathe" veneer i 1 facilitate; bonding After; the application Of;,:Su

Simultaneously, with qthessapplicati'oni 50 i 'unitary i article lfrdesiredgan 'adhesive -vmay 'beiia ppliediiicienbv heat sands 2" pressure for la piqedetermined time, thembladefisc:

cooled by circulating the hydraulic fluid, under pressure, through cooling coils 22. The fluid is then drained from the autoclave, and the blade removed therefrom. It will be found that, if the original size and form of the parts have been properly chosen and if the proper temperature arid pressure "have been as mameammin the autoclave, the finished blade will require only a minimum of finishing operations.

m invention, it will be apparent to l e art that othersteps, as well as modifications of those described, may be made parto'f th'e 'riiethodrwithout departing in any way rorn the I pe of the invention, for the ir'riltsof whicnrefere'nce must be had to the ap- Iclai I li Th method of manufacturing laminated wood articles, such as propellers, comprising the steps of: first lformingja plurality oft-wood veneers eachxijhaving the; approxim'ateishape"of=one of the laminationslgoi" the final article butiabeing of 'sub i stantially, greaterse. dimensions throughout; than place ofimeasurementbecause ofitheilaterall'co'm-l tg5gfie d one the sl D P E pieces in: face-to-iaciegrelationi with adhesive betweemadjacent 1 pieces toiproduce' a'preliminary article 'Mhavinge the 51. general" shape of the' final article whicheis 'towbestproduced and being" materially larger. in F811 tdir'nensions than such tfinar -article,1and subjecting" said' prelimin'aryi articleto fluid pressure over. its entire ext'ernal surface to reduce the size'w of the article in till-"directionsto article, and heating t e-fluid toxsettheadhesive:11 w 2. ,ugThB ;'-lmethod;='iof1-: manufacturing laminated wood.articiesmsuchas apropellers; which consists in firstilforming :a"-plurality'iof:wood veneers each having the;:approximate= mshape'l of one of the glaminationsr of. the finalrarticleibut I being or sub stantiallyi reater :1 dimensionss'throughout than said; one. .ofsthe laminationsi impregnating each itli =a ;binder;. Isuperp6sing said pieC8S.:in facexetoefac'e :relation'ato" produce" a" pre#'-- liminary article having: that "general shape of the final articlelrwhich is to -befiproduced and being materially :Iar er kin; :all-:- dimensions thansuch final article, igandi;subjectingr said preliminary article totfiuidupressure ofi the order pf 3000" PQl-lnds 5P8! square inch Lover wits entire external f surface wtowreduce the si'zez of the ar'tic'le in all articl' direction, to the desired isize -of :the nn 1 and, ,heating the fluid to setlthe'biiide'n v A JOSEPH. EJGURVITCHP Great Britain Great "Bl'italfi 

